UK Secures Billion Pound Package For
Space Investment (Source: Space Daily)
The UK Space Agency is set to invest 1.2 pounds in some of Europe's
biggest and most lucrative space projects, providing the UK with
increased leadership in a rapidly growing global sector and building on
the British space industry's 9.1 pounds contribution to the economy.
(11/21)

ESA Commits to ATV Service Module on
NASA’s Orion (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The European Space Agency (ESA) have announced they will inform NASA
they are ready to build an ATV derived Service Module for Orion, to be
ready for the first launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) in 2017.
The announcement came after the UK stepped up with additional funding,
marking the country’s first real human BEO commitment. Wednesday’s
announcement didn’t come as a major surprise, with the notion of ESA
involvement – via the use of Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) hardware
on Orion – known within NASA for over a year.

The ATV – three times the size of the Russian Progress resupply vehicle
– was built with a human rating role in mind from the onset. However,
these originally ranged from a mini space station – involving the
mating of two or more ATVs, through to a crewed version of the Cargo
Ascent and Return Vehicle (CARV) variant of the ATV.

Now, ATV – pending the expected official NASA acceptance – has a second
life after it completes its role as a resupply vehicle to the
International Space Station (ISS), incidentally linked to ESA’s
involvement with the orbital outpost. (11/21)

Private Moon Mission Rumor is Glimpse
of Lunar Future (Source: New Scientist)
Is the moon open for business? That's the prospect raised by rumors
that a private firm is aiming to send astronauts to the moon by 2020.
Cryptic tweets and posts suggest that former NASA astronauts and
engineers would soon announce such a venture. This led various bloggers
to single out the company Golden Spike. It is registered in Colorado to
Alan Stern. Golden Spike has not revealed its plans, and Stern told New
Scientist that he "can't comment either way" on the purported mission.

However, there may be a niche for a private crewed moon venture, says
Fred Bourgeois, a competitor in the Google Lunar X Prize race to land a
rover on the moon. Although Space Adventures, a company backed by film
director James Cameron, announced in 2005 that it wants to send
tourists to the moon, it has no suitable craft as yet. Meanwhile Open
Luna, an open-source effort, lacks cash.

NASA and China have vague plans to return astronauts to the moon. But
Bourgeois says private players will do it more cheaply. For example,
Scaled Composites became the first commercial outfit to send a human
into sub-orbital space in 2004, winning the Ansari X Prize, and it
spent only a third of what it would have cost a state-supported
aerospace organisation, according to a source from the X Prize
Foundation. Commercial missions will also help establish the moon as a
new frontier, which is important for humanity's development, Bourgeois
says. (11/21)

Commercial Lunar Project Would Force
Treaty Issues (Source: SPACErePORT)
Commercial development on the moon may or may not be permissible under
current international space treaties, depending on how they're
interpreted. These treaties were written during the Cold War to address
concerns about potential governmental operations and sovereignty issues
on the moon and elsewhere beyond Earth. They failed to explicitly
consider private sector space activities, leaving investors in ventures
like "Golden Spike" a little uncertain if they'll run afoul of
government interests.

The U.S. Government has an opportunity here to lead efforts to amend or
replace these outdated treaties, to promote the kind of foreseeable
U.S.-led commercial space projects that might not otherwise proceed,
and that could advance U.S. economic interests without the need for
huge government investments. (11/21)

Air Force Mini-Shuttle Launch Delayed
Again (Source: Florida Today)
Next week’s planned launch of the U.S. military’s mini-shuttle is being
delayed another two weeks, presumably to complete an investigation into
engine trouble during a recent Delta rocket launch. Now the third
flight of an Air Force X-37B is being tentatively targeted for Dec. 11,
officials said Wednesday. No exact launch time or launch window has
been announced. Launch of the Orbital Test Vehicle aboard an United
Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station had
been set for next Tuesday. (11/21)

NASA Plans UAS-Oriented Centennial
Challenge (Source: SpaceRef)
NASA is considering the initiation of an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)
Airspace Operations Challenge to be conducted under the Centennial
Challenges Program administered through NASA Headquarters. Through this
Opportunity Notice (NOTICE) NASA seeks to select a Lead Allied
Organization and additional Supporting Allied Organization(s) to
conduct this Challenge. The date for Challenge competition is expected
to be between August 30, 2013 and June 30, 2014 depending upon the
availability of a test range and competitor registration date.

The proposed prize objective for the winning team will be to "maintain
safe separation from other air traffic while operating their UAS in
congested airspace, under a variety of scenarios." Click here.
(11/21)

CSX Pitches Lynx Flights at Brazilian
Event (Source: NewSpace Watch)
Space Expedition Corporation (CSX) presented at an event in Sao Paulo
on the Lynx spacecraft program. The unprecedented program will be
divided into three parts: from the end of 2013 the will depart from
Mojave, California, leading participants to about 60 miles high. In the
second phase, which will begin in the second half of 2014 the company
will offer commercial trips departing from Curacao in the Caribbean,
reaching up to 103 km height. Altogether 100 flights will be flown. In
the last part of the project, in 2015, there will be more trips leaving
from Curaçao than from Mojave.

The flights will operate in 2014 in a lottery scheme. That is, anyone
who buy the ticket can be the first to make the flight aerospace
vacation. Besides the flight, which lasts 60 minutes, the package also
includes training - but not the tickets to the Netherlands, where it
happens. To experience this experience, you must be over 18 years old
and be healthy physically and mentally. Tourists undergo a clinical
trial to evaluate blood pressure, vision, hearing and agility.

In Brazil, the trip will cost around $120,000 and two tickets have
already been sold. The first buyer was the consultant Wagner Dias. "My
training starts in March 2013 in Amsterdam," he said. Among the
passengers by the SXC famous already confirmed are DJ Armin van Buuren,
and the top Victoria's Secret Angel Doutzen Kroes and baseball player
Hensley Meulens. (11/21)

KSC Tests Upgraded Crawler-Transporter
for New Heavy-Lift Rocket (Source: Florida Today)
A Kennedy Space Center crew on Wednesday moved a massive
crawler-transporter several miles as part of tests of recent
modifications to upgrade the Apollo-era hardware for NASA's next
heavy-lift rocket. The 6.3 million pound machine, whose base is the
size of a baseball diamond, carried Saturn V rockets and space shuttles
from the Vehicle Assembly Building out to their launch pads.

The eight-tracked crawler-transporter recently rolled 3.4 miles out to
pad 39A, where it climbed up the stand and lifted and lowered a mobile
launcher platform. On Wednesday it returned to a park site near the
VAB, a trip that took about six hours at an average speed of 0.8 mph.
The crawler's $50 million overhaul is expected to be completed in 2015.
(11/21)

Cracks Discovered in First Space-bound
Orion Capsule (Source: Space News)
NASA’s first orbital flight-model Orion crew capsule will have to be
repaired before its planned 2014 debut after its aft bulkhead cracked
during recent pressure testing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The cracks were discovered during a proof pressure test the week of
Nov. 5. Proof testing, in which a pressure vessel is subject to
stresses greater than those it is expected to encounter during routine
use, is one of the many preflight tests NASA is performing on Orion to
certify the craft is safe for astronauts.

“The cracks are in three adjacent, radial ribs of this integrally
machined, aluminum bulkhead,” Rachel Kraft wrote. “This hardware will
be repaired and will not need to be remanufactured.” It took Orion
prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver about a year
to make the vehicle that was damaged. Kraft did not say how long it
would take to repair the capsule, built as part of a program intended
to take astronauts to destinations beyond low Earth orbit. (11/21)

FAA Adds New Members to Space Advisory
Panel (Source: FAA)
The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation has added eight new
members to its Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee
(COMSTAC). In addition to the new appointments, FAA has also announced
that Michael N. Gold will serve as the new chairperson of COMSTAC. Gold
is currently with Bigelow Aerospace. The new members have significant
experience in all aspects of commercial space transportation, including
launch site services, space vehicle manufacturing, aerospace law, and
the growing new field of commercial human spaceflight. Click here.
http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=70023

Editor's Note:
Among the new members is Florida-based Oscar Garcia of InterFlight
Global Corp. in Miami. Garcia also serves as an advisory board member
for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. (11/21)

Work Begins on Mojave Spaceport Runway
Improvements (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Workers have begun pre-construction preparations for the rebuilding of
Runway 4-22 at the Mojave Air and Space Port, General Manager Stu Witt
said. Runway 4-22 is the shortest of the three runways at the spaceport
in California’s High Desert, and it is in the worst shape. It will be
out of commission until March. (11/21)

Pentagon Draws Line on Deliberate
Satellite Interference (Source: Space News)
Deliberate interference with space systems either owned or relied upon
by the U.S. Department of Defense will be deemed “irresponsible” during
peacetime and possibly “escalatory” during crises, the Pentagon has
declared. In a space policy document signed Oct. 18, the Pentagon
appears to have drawn a line in the sand on all types of deliberate
interference with space systems. The directive declares the
sustainability and free use of the space environment to be a “vital”
U.S. national interest.

“Purposeful interference with U.S. space systems, including their
supporting infrastructure, will be considered an infringement of U.S.
rights,” the document, publicly disclosed without fanfare Nov. 21,
states. “Such interference, or interference with other space systems
upon which the United States relies, is irresponsible in peacetime and
may be escalatory during a crisis. The United States will retain the
capabilities to respond at the time and place of our choosing.” (11/21)

USAF General Warns on Budget Cuts
(Source: Space Safety)
William Shelton, commander of the Air Force Space Command, warned
against funding cuts to future space programs, with possible
consequences to next-generation Space Situational Awareness (SAA)
systems. According to Shelton the new Joint Space Operations Management
System (JMS), designed to increase USAF capability to track objects in
Earth’s orbit, is threatened with a major funding reduction by the US
Congress, on the grounds of past cost overruns in the program.

Congress quotes a 2011 report from the Government Accountability Office
that pointed out cost and schedule overruns of the Air Force, stating
that the Pentagon had failed to deliver promised SSA capabilities for
five consecutive fiscal years. According to Shelton, the Air Force is
trying to find more cost-effective ways to maintain the space
global military capabilities by revamping its acquisition processes for
space and cyberspace capabilities, opening up to new commercial players
of the launch industry and to the integration of payloads on
commercially-owned vehicles. (11/20)

Rescuing Orion After Off-Nominal
Landing (Source: Space Safety)
NASA is setting up the mission rules for the Orion spacecraft with a
Concept of Operations (CONOPS) that includes scenarios for keeping a
crew alive after end of mission splashdown. The scenarios include
off-nominal landings to remote areas of the ocean, and crew rescue by
US Department of Defense (DoD) assets. (11/20)

When Your Spacecraft Moves Without You
(Source: Space Safety)
At regular intervals, the International Space Station needs a
propulsive boost to avoid losing altitude due to atmospheric drag, or
occasionally to get out of the way of approaching space debris. These
boosts are provided from docked supply spacecraft and provide a
spectacular show outside the station. But did you ever wonder what it
feels like onboard ISS during one of these boosts? In this
video, Mike Fossum, Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov demonstrate
what happens when your spacecraft accelerates without you. (11/15)

ESA Compromises on Ariane Investments
(Source: Space News)
European Space Agency (ESA) governments committed Nov. 21 some 10.1
billion euros ($13.3 billion) to the agency’s programs in the coming
two to four years, including nearly 600 million euros over two years to
prepare future rockets to succeed the current Ariane 5 ECA heavy-lift
vehicle. As expected, the most difficult topic at the two-day meeting
was what to do about the Ariane rocket system in the coming years. ESA
and other European government officials had said there was a threat
that Franco-German discord over Ariane’s future could compromise the
entire conference.

The final compromise on launchers is only for the next two years. In
mid-2014, ESA governments will meet again to take stock of the launcher
situation. The two-year investment includes 157 million euros for
design studies for an Ariane 6 rocket, which could fly around 2021 and
replace both the current Ariane 5 and the medium-lift Soyuz that is
being launched from Europe’s spaceport as part of a 10-year agreement
with Russia.

Specific work on the Ariane 5 ME rocket will receive 187 million euros
in funding during the two-year period. But Antonio Fabrizi, ESA’s
director of launchers, said this investment is being made as part of a
longer effort that will see Ariane 5 ME making a first flight in 2017
or 2018. (11/21)

Dwarf Planet Beyond Pluto Lacks
Atmosphere (Source: Space.com)
Distant starlight has given astronomers the best look yet at a distant
icy sibling of Pluto, a dwarf planet called Makemake that appears to be
missing its atmosphere, researchers say. Although this icy world
currently lacks an atmosphere, there is still a chance it could form
one like a comet when it approaches the point in its orbit that is
closest to the sun, scientists added.

In the past decade, astronomers have discovered a slew of "dwarf
planets" that dwell with Pluto beyond the orbit of Neptune. Makemake
was a world nicknamed "Easterbunny" by its discoverers before
officially getting named after the Polynesian creator of humanity and
the god of fertility. (11/21)

Group Plans Space University Near KSC
(Source: LinkedIn)
Kepler Space University (currently called Kepler Space Institute) has
been incorporated in Florida and plans to set up offices outside of the
Kennedy Space Center. KSU will be the only U.S. dedicated space
university. KSI is currently online and provides certificate courses.
Visit www.keplerspaceinstitute.org.
(11/21)